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Queensferry

Cumulative tutorial 09

Fitting Rayleigh damping, and checking it

Anchor the damping at two frequencies, then find out what every other mode received.

The three-storey building from the previous tutorial is to be run by direct integration, which needs a damping MATRIX rather than modal ratios. Rayleigh damping is to be fitted to give 5% at the first and third modes. Fit it — then check what the second mode actually got.

What you are given

  • ω₁ = 19.903 rad/s, ω₂ = 55.75 rad/s, ω₃ = 80.585 rad/s
  • Target damping 5% at modes 1 and 3
  • C = a₀M + a₁K

Tutorial 09

Work the problem

4 questions

  1. Question 1

    What is the mass-proportional coefficient a₀?

  2. Question 2

    What is the stiffness-proportional coefficient a₁?

  3. Question 3

    What damping ratio does the second mode actually receive, as a percentage?

  4. Question 4

    By what percentage is the second mode under-damped relative to the 5% target?

What this establishes

Rayleigh damping is exact at two frequencies and wrong everywhere else, and 'wrong' has a direction that depends on where the mode sits. Fit it, then tabulate the ratio every retained mode actually received. That table takes a minute and is the difference between a damping model and a damping assumption.